MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES 


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'Ierde hearings 

I i BEFORE 

^ oy *^r<LM. /Mouc a- . 

THE .COMMITTEE ON LABOR 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SIXTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS 
FIRST SESSION 

ON 

H. R. 2429 


A BILL TO FIX COMPENSATION OF CERTAIN EMPLOYEES 
OF THE UNITED STATES 


FRIDAY, MAY 6, 1921 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
1921 


C-a|bw 









COMMITTEE ON LABOR. 


House of Representatives. 

SIXTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. 


JOHN I. NOLAN. California. Chairman. 


FREDERICK N. ZIHLMAN, Maryland. 
NORMAN J. GOULD, New York. 
OSCAR E. BLAND, Indiana. 
WILLIAM J. BURKE, Pennslyvania. 
WILLIAM O. ATKESON, Missouri. 
JOSEPH D. BECK, Wisconsin. 
OGDEN L. MILLS, New York. 
CHARLES L. KNIGHT, Ohio. 

2 


EUGENE BLACK, Texas. 
William d. upshaw, Georgia. 
ROSS A. COLLINS, Mississippi. 
GEORGE K. FAVROT, Louisiana. 
MEYER LONDON, New York. 


T. C. Glynn, Clerk. 













MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 

UJ 


Committee on Labor, 

House of Representatives, 

Friday ; May 6, 1921. 

The committee met at 10.30 o’clock a. m., Hon. John I. Nolan 
(chairman) presiding, for the purpose of considering the following 
bill: 

[H. R. 2429. Sixty-seventh Congress, first session.] 

A BILL To fix the compensation of certain employees of the United States. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled, That after the passage of this act the minimum compensation 
of any person employed by the United States or by the government of the District of 
Columbia shall be not less than $3 per day ; or if employed by the hour not less than 
37$ cents per hour; or if employed by the month not less than $90 per month; or if 
employed by the year not less than $1,080 per annum: Provided. That persons em¬ 
ployed on a monthly or annual salary basis and who regularly perform less than a full 
day’s sendee shall receive compensation at the rate of not less than 37$ cents per 
hour: Provided further , That the provisions of this act shall not apply to persons en¬ 
listed in the military or naval branches of the Government nor to the employees in 
the Philippine Islands, Porto Rico, and the Panama Canal Zone, nor to persons hold¬ 
ing appointments as postmasters, assistant postmasters, rural carriers, postal clerks, 
carriers in the City Delivery Service, or railway mail clerks: Provided further , That 
the provisions of this act shall apply only to those persons who shall have attained 
the age of eighteen years: And provided further, That in the case of an employee re¬ 
ceiving quarters and subsistence in addition to his compensation, the value of such 
quarters and subsistence shall be determined by the head of the department, and the 
compensation of such employees, plus the value of quarters and subsistence, shall in 
no event be less than the rate fixed by this act. 

Sec. 2. That upon the passage of this act the heads of departments in which are 
employed persons as defined in section 1 of this act shall issue new appointments at 
the increased rate of compensation herein provided. 

The Chairman. The bill fixes the compensation of certain 
employees of the United States. I might say that this is a bill 
similar to one that passed the Sixty-fourth, Sixty-fifth, and Sixty- 
sixth Congresses, ana got up to the point where it passed the Senate 
and was held up on a motion to reconsider, and got caught in a 
legislative jam during the closing days of the Sixty-sixth Congress, 
and failed of passage. I am satisfied that if the Senators had a 
chance to vote on the measure there would not be any doubt about 
its going through almost unanimously. 

There are a number of people here this morning to be heard on the 
bill. Before I call upon any of those that are interested in the 
passage of it, I want to call the committee’s attention to a letter that 
I have received from the Secretary of Agriculture, which will, without 
objection, be incorporated in the hearing {reading]: 

Department of Agriculture, 

Washington , April 25, 1921. 

Hon. John I. Nolan, 

Chairman Committee on Labor, House of Representatives. 

Dear Mr. Nolan: My attention has just been called to H. R. 2429, which you 
recently introduced in the Congress. It is noted that under the exceptions of persons 
to whom the bill shall not apply are employees in the Philippine Islands, Porto Rico, 

3 



4 


MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 


and the Panama Canal Zone. This department is very much interested in this bill 
as it maintains agricultural experiment stations in Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, Guam, 
and the Virgin Islands, and to have a minimum wage of $3 per day to the lower grades 
of these employees would deplete the appropriations for the stations as well as disturb 
the local situation. I respectfully suggest the wording finally adopted by the Senate 
of the Sixty-sixth Congress be used in the bill and after the words “ Porto Rico,” line 3, 
page 2, insert the following: “Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Territory of Hawaii, the 
Territory of Alaska,” so that it will read “nor to the employees in the Philippine 
Islands, Porto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Territory of Hawaii, the Territory 
of Alaska, and the Panama Canal Zone.” 

Very truly, yours, Henry C. Wallace, Secretary. 

I called up the department yesterday and invited them to have 
a representative here this morning. Is there anybody here repre¬ 
senting the Department of Agriculture? I asked them to submit 
statistics to give us some idea as to how this would affect them. 
It may be that he will come later on. 

Mr. Steward, are you prepared to go ahead ? 

STATEMENT OF MR. LUTHER C. STEWARD, PRESIDENT ' 

OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

Mr. Steward. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, 
the bill which you are considering this morning represents an attempt 
which has extended over several years, several sessions of Congress, 
to secure for those of the very lowest paid employees of the Federal 
service something that will approximate a subsistence wage. The 
bill was introduced six or seven years ago, at a time when the purchas- J 
ing power of a dollar was much higher than it is at present. It I 
represented what was in the estimation of those best qualified to 
judge, from research investigation of the cost of living throughout 
the United States, a wage which might be termed a subsistence 
wage, with little if anything in the way of allowance for other than 
the bare necessities of life. While the cost of living, after ascending 
very rapidly for something over five years during the war period, 
has dropped to a certain extent during the last few months, and 
even though the present cost of living figures are not at the peak, the 

E urchasing power of a dollar is much smaller than it was when the 
ill was presented with the figures as they are at present. 

Speaking for the employees, we have felt that, although S3 a day 
does not adequately represent a living beyond a bare subsistence ; 
wage, if there could be for the first time established in the Govern¬ 
ment service the principle that the United States Government 
would not have in its employ any man or woman who did not receive 
enough to keep soul and body together on what we choose to call 
our American standard of living, we would be accomplishing some¬ 
thing. 

Our organization has 240 branches throughout the continental 
territory of the United States and its insular possessions, and is 
representative of several hundred thousand civilian employees, of 
whom at the present time, while exact figures are not obtainable, 
there are approximately 50,000 adults who receive base pay less 
than $3 a day. As to just what these figures mean, and the many 
makeshifts, the difficulties attendant upon the eeking out of an 
existence on the insufficient compensation that is paid by the Govern- 




MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOB FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 


5 


ment for these positions, we have produced at various times before 
committees of both House and Senate a great mass of testimony. 
The hearings before the House Committee on Labor from time to 
time have been very voluminous and have covered the subject very 
thoroughly. In the hearings before the Senate Committee also a 

f reat deal of testimony from individual employees who are affected 
y the legislation has been presented, as well as a thorough discussion 
not only of the principle of the living wage, but a general application 
to employment both private and public. 

| We have here this morning a group of specimen cases. We have 
not made any attempt to bring a large number but only a typical 
< few, typical of those who are affected by the legislation in the bill 
before you. We shall be very glad to furnish testimony from any 
number of sources if in the judgment of the committee a greater 
amount is needed, or any points that may not be covered by the 
testimony of those witnesses here this morning is desired. In other 
words, the mass of material is so great that we have an almost 
unlimited supply to depend upon in order to convince, if it is neces¬ 
sary to convince, the committee or the House of Representatives 
that legislation of this sort is an absolute necessity and in justice to 
all concerned should have been enacted long ago. 

I might say in passing that the bill in practically its present from, 
with the exception of one or two minor amendments, which will be 
explained, or which have been explained by the chairman, has passed 
the House of Representatives on two occasions by an overwhelming 
majority, thereby registering the sentiment of the lower House of 
Congress as being not only in favor of the principle, but the fairness 
of the figure fixed—fairness is hardly the expression—but at least 
that it is none too high. 

The Chairman. Mr. Steward, have you some witnesses that you 
would like to call ? 

Mr. Steward. I would like Miss Ethel Smith to be called. 

STATEMENT OF MISS ETHEL M. SMITH. 

The Chairman. Whom do you represent, Miss Smith ? 

Miss Smith. I represent the National Women’s Trade Union 
League, of which many members are in Government employ, the two 
organizations having very close connections and affiliations; that is, 
the Women’s Trade Union League and the National Federation of 
Federal Employees. 

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I think I need 
not call your attention to the fact of the great number of women in 
the Government employ, and the further fact that they, the women, 
are here, as in private employ, very numerous in the lowest paid 
groups. That seems to be a condition against which women are 
destined to contend for a while, but we had hoped that the United 
States Government would recognize the fact that it is more than 
ever important that there should not continue to be that disparity 
between the wages of women and men. 

The particular groups you are more or less familiar with. There 
are many women in the mechanical departments of the Govern¬ 
ment, engaged in the mechanical operations in the Bureau of Engrav¬ 
ing and Printing, the Government Printing Office, the Mail Bag 




6 


MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 


Repair Shop, and other industrial occupations where they are receiv¬ 
ing very low pay, less than the $3 a day, and less than is paid to men 
who are doing work of less skill than theirs. 

There are women in the Public Library of the District of Columbia 
who are doing work which requires a college education, and special 
training besides, who are getting less than $3 a day. I think fully 
half of the employees, men and women, of the Library of Congress 
are getting less than -S3 a day. 

The women who do the very laborious cleaning work in the depart¬ 
mental buildings are among those who are affected by this bill 
through its hourly rate. I want to call attention to the fact that 
there is provided an hourly rate. Those women to a very large 
extent are part-time workers. I have heard objections to this bill 
on the floor of the House and Senate both in the form of sweeping 
assertions to the effect that part-time workers, particularly the 
unskilled laborers who are doing only part-time work, would be 
paid $3 a day. I trust that every member of the committee is fully 
aware that this is not true. They are paid by the hour, and if they 
work only four hours or six hours they get pay at the rate of 37 j 
cents an hour under this bill. 

There is another sweeping misstatement which I think might be 
mentioned here. I have heard this on the floor of the Senate in par¬ 
ticular. First, I want to emphasize, however, the fact that we stand 
for the principle of at least a living wage for every worker, irre¬ 
spective of the job. The very least that any worker is entitled to we 
feel is that he should receive enough to live on. So I do not for a 
minute wish to indicate any lack of support for that principle in the 
bill which would pay this minimum to the unskilled employees. 
But it has been alleged by some opponents of the bill that it would 
be chiefly the unskilled workers who would be affected by this, and 
particularly they seem to feel that it will be a very great crime to 
pay messengers $3 a day and charwomen as much as that. I think 
in view of such assertions it would be interesting to run over some of 
the titles of positions for which the Government offers less than $3 
a day through the civil-service examinations which have been an¬ 
nounced during the last year. I will not read this entire list, but 
it starts like this: Cotton classer’s helpers in the Bureau of Markets, 
$600 a year ; preparator in entomology, $720, in the Bureau of Ento¬ 
mology and the Smithsonian Institution; aid qualified in radio, 
Bureau of Standards, calculating machine operator, elevator machin¬ 
ist, medical interne, statistical clerk, apprentice fish culturist, grapho- 
type operator, addressograph operator, mimeograph operator, proof 
reader, physical laboratory helper, file clerk, forest assistant, avia¬ 
tion engine mechanic’s helper, brass foundry helper, skilled laborer 
qualified as auto mechanic’s helper, addressograph file clerk, land- 
law clerk, junior dairy herdsman, entomological laboratory assistant, 
assistant engineer of tests, weigher, photostat operator, sailor, 
teacher, junior electrical engineer, deput} 7 shipping commissioner, 
teacher of agriculture, draftsman, accounting clerk, photographic 
laboratory assistant; I will not go through that whole list, but all 
of them are offered at entrance less than $3 a day, or $1,080 a year. 

The Chairman. Would you leave that with the committee? 





MINIMUII WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 


7 


Miss Smith. I should be glad to. I understand that in recent 
years the Civil Service Commission has found it difficult to fill these 
positions. 

Mr. Upshaw. I do not wonder. 

Miss Smith. It is not strange at all, I think, and it seems to me 
that we should take as a point to emphasize, in view of the continued 
efforts of the opponents of the bill, to indicate that this is not a bill 
to raise the pay of the least skilled workers only. Let me repeat, 
however, that 1 think the least skilled workers are entitled to con¬ 
sideration as much as the others, just as much as those of greater 
skill. 

I have little more to say, because I know that the other witnesses 
will cover the various points which are of the greatest importance 
to us, but I bring this out as one point that has not been so much 
emphasized. 

Following is the list of civil service examinations announced in 
1919 and 1920, offering salaries less than $1,080 a year: 


Civil-service examinations, 1919-1920, 

offering salaries less than $3 a 

day. 

Title. 

Branch of the service. 

Salary. 

Laboratory aid in chemistry and physics. 

Cotton classer’s helper.... 

Bureau of Plant Industry. 

Bureau of Markets. 

8900-81,020 
600- 900 

Preparator in entomology. 

Bureau of Entomology and Smith- 

720- 900 

Aid qualified in radio. 

sonian Institution. 

B ureau of Standards. 

900 

Guard. 

Penitentiary. 

840 

Calculating-machine operator. 

Departmental. 

900- 1,200 

Elevator machinist. 

Department of Agriculture. 

900 

Medical interne. 

St. Elizabeths Hospital. 

900 

Statistical clerk. 

Public Health....!. 

1, 000- 1, 400 

Apprentice fish eulturist. 

Bureau of Fisheries. 

' 600- ' 960 

Coder. 

War Department. 

900- 1,200 

Graphotype operator. 

Departmental and field. 

660- 1,200 


F-l Addressograph operator. 

Mimeograph operator. 

Proof reader. 

Physical laboratory helper. 


.do. 

_do. 

_do. 

Departments of 
Commerce. 


Agriculture and 


990- 1,200 
720- 1, 200 
900- 1, 200 
600- 900 


File clerk. 

Preparatorin entomology. 

Tinner. 

Dietitian. 

Library assistant. 

Field and laboratory aid in plant pathology. 

Plate printer... 

Manual-training teacher. 

Preparator in botany. 

X-ray technician. 

Teacher. 

Minor clerk (punch operator). 

Laboratory assistant. 

Guard. 

Lithographic press helper. 

Teacher. 

F-l Addressograph operator. 

Lay inspector. 

Oiler. 

Apprentice fish eulturist... 

Physical laboratory helper. 

Special assistant agent, protective social measures 

Preparator, anthropological laboratory. 

Kindergarten teacher. 

Domestic science teacher. 

Manual training teacher. 

Assistant roentgenologist: junior roentgenologist.. 

Preparator in nematology. 

Bookkeeper. 

Lockmaker. 

Oiler. 


Departmental. 

Bureau of Entomology. 

Smithsonian Institution. 

Public Health Service. 

Department of Agriculture. 

Bureau of Plant industry. 

Navy—Hydrographic Office. 

Indian school. 

National Museum. 

Public Health Service. 

Indian. 

Census. 

Mines. 

Departmental and penitentiary... 

Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

Ordnance. 

Departmental. 

Bureau of Animal Industry. 

Post Office Department. 

Bureau of Fisheries. 

Department of Agriculture. 

Social Hygiene board. 

National Museum. 

Bureau of Ordnance. 

.do. 

.do. 

Public Health Service. 

Bureau of Plant Industry. 

Departmental. 

Post Office Department. 

.do. 


100- 1, 200 
720 
1,020 
960 

900- 1,000 
720- 1,080 
900 

900- 1,000 
900 
840 

600- 720 

900- 960 

900- 1,200 
720- 810 

700 

720- 1,680 
900- 1,200 
1,080 
900 

900- 960 

600- 900 

900- 1,500 
900 

720- 1,680 
720- 1,680 
720- 1,680 
840- 1,560 
660- 1,200 
1,000- 1.200 
1,080 
840 


Photostat operator. 

Radio laboratory assistant, grade 1 
Plate printer. 


Bureau of Chemistry. 

Signal Service. 

Navy—Hydrographic Office. 


1,000 

800- 1,200 
900- 1,200 















































































































8 MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 

Civil-service examinations , 1919-1920 , offering salaries less than $3 a day— Continued. 


Title. 


Branch of the service. 


Salary. 


Laboratory aid in soil bacteriology. 

Laboratory assistant, junior grade. 

Photographic laboratory aid. 

Multigraph operator. 

Apprentice plate printer. 

Lithographic stone polisher, stone plainer, and stone 
grainer. 

Assistant bacteriologist; junior bacteriologist. 

Assistant in nematology. 

Mold maker’s helper.... 

Apprentice chart engraver. 

Apprentice draftsman. 

Telegraph operator. 

Instrument maker.. 

Laboratory aid in foreign seed and plant introduction. 

Plumber’s helper. 

Lay inspector. 

Deck hand. 

Foundry helper. 

Physical laboratory helper. 

Fish culturist. 

Preparatorin nematology. 

Laboratory aid in forest pathology. 

Fireman. 

Lithographic press helper. 

Assistant keeper. 

Shop apprentice.. 

Automobile mechanic’s helper. 

Mechanical draftsman. 

Statistical clerk. 

Junior mechanic. 

Nurseryman. 

Forest assistant. 

Aviation engine mechanic’s helper. 

Brass foundry helper. 

Finger-print classifier. 

Steamfitters helper. 

Skilled laborer, qualified as automobile mechanic’s 
helper. 

Addressograph file clerk, grade 2.. 

Land law clerk. 

Laboratory aid, motion-picture laboratory. 

Junior dairy herdsman. 

Weigher. 

Photostat operator. 

Scaler. 

Teacher. 

Apprentice plate cleaner, apprentice transferrer, 
apprentice picture engraver, and apprentice letter 
engraver. 

Practical optician and glass worker. 

Laboratory aid. 

Denuty shipping commissioner. 

Teacher of agriculture. 

Laboratory aid in agricultural technology. 

Assistant in nematology. 

Clerk... 

Photographic laboratory assistant, grade 1. 

Oiler. 

Temporary clerk. 

Pharmacist. 

Preparator in nematology. 

Preparator in entomology. 

Messenger boy. 

Laboratory aid and field assistant in crop acclimatiza¬ 
tion. 

Laboratory assistant, qualified as paper fiber micro- 
scopist. 

Telephone operator. 

Scientific assistant. 

Addressograph mechanician. 

Dictating machine operator. 

Telegraph operator. 

Printing office apprentice. 


Bureau of Plant Industry. 

Bureau of Mines. 

Forest Service. 

Departmental. 

Bureau of Printing and Engraving 
Geological Survey. 

Public Health Service. 

Bureau of Plant Industry. 

Bureau of Standards. 

Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

Aeronautics. 

All. 

Bureau of Standards. 

Bureau of Plant Industry. 

Treasury Department. 

Bureau of Animal Industry. 

District of Columbia police de¬ 
partment. 

Bureau of Standards. 

_do.. — -. 

Bureau of Fisheries. 

Bureau of Plant Industry. 

.do. 

Interior Department. 

Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

National Zoo. 

Bureau of Standards. 

Bureau of Mines. 

Patent Office. 

Departmental. 

Post Office Department. 

Indian school. 

Forest Service. 

Bureau of Standards. 

_do. - 

Navy. 

Bureau of Standards. 

, t 


Bureau of War Risk Insurance.... 

General Land Office. 

Bureau of Publications. 

Bureau of Animal Industry. 

Bureau of Mines. 

Bureau of Chemistry. 

Forest Service. 

Indian Service. 

Bureau Engraving and Printing.. 


Bureau of Standards. 

Department of Agriculture. 

Shipping Commissioner. 

Indian school. 

Bureau Plant Industry. 

Bureau Animal Industry. 

Departmental.. 

Signal Corps. 

Post Office Department. 

Departmental.. 

Freedmen’s Hospital.. 

Bureau Plant Industry. 

Bureau of Entomology and Smith¬ 
sonian Institution. 

Departmental.. 

Bureau of Plant Industry.. 

Bureau of Standards.. 

Departmental.. 

Bureau of Fisheries. 

Departmental.. 

.do. 

All. 

Washington Barracks, Engineer 
School. 


$840-$l, 200 
1,080- 1,200 
900- 1,100 
1,000- 1,200 
444 
900 

840- 1,080 
1,000- 1,800 
720- 1,000 
600- 1.000 
900- 1,050 
900- 1,600 
900- 1,800 
840-1, 000 
780 
1,080 
600 

-720-1,080 
600- 900 
900- 960 
900-1, 200 
840- 1,200 
720 
700 
900 
720 
234 
1, 000 
900- 1,400 
576 
1,000 
1,10U 
900- 1,500 
720- 1,020 
1,000- 1,400 
920 

720- 900 

900- 1,200 
900- 1,000 
720- 840 

860- 1,150 
1 , 020 - 1,200 
900- 1,000 
900- 1,400 
600- 720 

600 


1,000- 1,600 
840- 1,240 
900 

1 , 000 - 1,200 
720- 1,080 
1,000- 1,800 
900- 1,100 
1,000- 1,500 
840 

840- 1,100 
720 

720- 1,000 
720- 900 

360- 480 

720- 1,020 

900- 1,0S0 

720 

900- 1,500 
840- 1,500 
1,000- 1,600 
900- 1,600 
000 


Assistant in nematology. 

Clerk with knowledge of stenography. 

Practical optician and glass worker’s helper 
Land-law clerk. 


Bureau of Plant Industry 

Departmental. 

Bureau of Standards. 

General Land Office. 


1,000- 1,800 
900- 1,200 
720- 1.200 
1,000 




















































































































































MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 


9 


Civil-service examinations , 1919-1920, offering salaries less than $3 a day —Continued. 


Title. 


Branch of the service. 


Clerk-translator (qualified in Japanese). 

Laboratory apprentice. 

Money counter. 

F-l Addressograph operator; automatic 3-A Addresso- 
graph operator. 

Apprentice plate cleaner, apprentice transferrer, ap¬ 
prentice picture engraver, and apprentice letter en¬ 
graver. 

Steamfitter’s helper. 

Deputy shipping commissioner. 

Dairyman. 

Third grade, or subclerical. 

Scaler. 

Telegraph operator. 

Printing office apprentice. 

Laboratory aid, motion-picture laboratory. 

Map printer.!. 

Statistical agent. 

Plumber's helper. 

Clerk. 

Machinist's helper.. 

Assistant observer. 

Female skilled laborer. 

Truck foreman. 

Lithographic press helper. 

Multigraph operator. 

Millwright’s helper. 

Prepara tor in nematology.... 

Graphotype operator... 

Library assistant. 

Typewriter repair man. 

Radio draftsman, grade A. 

Clerk-colorist. 

Laboratory aid in agricultural technology. 

Junior topographer and topographic aid. 

Preparator in entomology.. 

Shop apprentice. 

Freehand draftsman. 

Guard. 

Physical laboratory helper... 

Automobile mechanic’s helper. 

Preparator. 

Druggist. 

Teacher. 

Assistant in nematology. 

X-ray technician. 

Girl’s athletic director. 

Computer, grade 2. 

Radio operator. 

Typewriter lister. 

Clerk with knowledge of stenography. 

Junior dairy herdsman. 

Railway mail clerk. 

Aviation engine mechanic’s helper. 

Photostat operator. 

Guard. 

Statistical agent. 

Practical optician and glass worker’s helper. 

Mechanician, qualified as mechanical store and tool 
room keeper. 

Cotton classer’s helper. 

Assistant in grain standardization. 

Assistant observer. 

Check and bond sorter. 

Machinist’s helper. 

Herbarium assistant. 

Deputy shipping commissioner. 

Apprentice plate cleaner, apprentice transferrer, ap¬ 
prentice picture engraver, and apprentice letter en¬ 
graver. 

Music teacher... 

Band leader and instructor. 

Oiler.-. 

Skilled laborer, qualified in pasteboard-box making... 

Printer’s helper. 

Apprentice map engraver. 


Naval Intelligence Office. 

Bureau of Standards. 

Treasury Department. 

Departmental. 

Bureau of Engraving and Printing. 


Bureau of Standards. 

Shipping Commission. 

Indian Service. 

Bureau of the Census. 

Forest Service. 

All. 

Washington Barracks, Engineer 
School. 

Bureau of Publications. 

Navy, Hydrographic Office. 

Bureau of Fisheries. 

Treasury Department. 

Bureau of the Census. 

Soil Survev. 

Weather Bureau. 

Bureau of Engraving and Printing. 

Bureau of Standards. 

Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

Bureau of Publications. 

Bureau of Standards. 

Bureau of Plant Industry. 

Bureau of War Risk Insurance.... 

Bureau of the Census. 

Department of Agriculture. 

Departmental. 

Signal Corps. 

Department of Agriculture. 

Bureau of Plant Industry. 

Geological Survey. 

Bureau of Entomology. 

Bureau of Standards. 

Patent Office. 

Penitentiary and departmental 
service. 

Departments of Agriculture and 
Commerce. 

Bureau of Mines. 

Division of Mechanical Technol¬ 
ogy, National Museum. 

Public Health Service. 

Bureau of Ordnance. 

Bureau of Plant Industry. 

Public Health Service. 

Indian Service. 

Bureau of Ordnance. 

Lighthouse Service. 

Treasury Department. 

Departmental. 

Bureau of Animal Industry. 

Railway-Mail Service. 

Bureau of Standards. 

Departmental. 

Penitentiary service. 

Bureau of Fisheries. 

Bureau of Standards. 

_do. 

Bureau of Markets. 

... .do. 

Weather Bureau. 

Treasury Department. 

Bureau of Standards. 

Bureau of Plant Industry. 

Shipping Commission. 

Bureau of Engraving and Printing. 


Indian Office. 

Indian school. 

Post Office Department. 

Bureau of Markets. 

Geological Survey. 

Navy, Bureau of Navigation 


Salary. 


SI,000 


540 

$700- 

1,000 

900- 

1,200 


600 


922 


900 

840- 

900 

900- 

960 

900- 

1,400 

900- 

1,600 


720 


900 

900- 

1,200 


1,000 


1,000 

900- 

1,020 


900 


1,080 


677 

1,000- 

1,200 


700 


840 

840- 

1,200 

660- 

1,000 

660- 

1,200 

900- 

1,020 


900 

900- 

1,500 

1,000- 

1,400 


1,100 


840 

720- 

1,500 


720 


720 


1,000 

720- 

840 

600- 

900 


840 


900 

720- 

1,200 

720- 

1,680 

1,000- 

1,800 

840- 

1,200 

900- 

1,000 

900- 

1,400 

960- 

1, 200 

900- 

1,100 

900- 

1,200 

864- 

1,150 


1,100 

900- 

1,500 

900- 

1, 200 

840- 

1,080 


1,000 

720- 

1,200 

900- 

1,000 

60C- 

1,200 

900- 

1,800 


1,800 

900- 

1,000 


960 

900- 

1,200 


900 


600 


720 

720- 

1,000 


840 

720- 

900 


900 

700- 

800 
















































































































































10 MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 

Civil-service examinations, 1919-1920, offering salaries less than $3 a day Continued. 


i 


Title. 


Branch of the service. 


Salary. 


Clerk-translator (qualified Japanese).. 

Junior computer. 

Radio clerk. 

Clerk. 

Map colorist.. 

Forest ranger. 

Minor clerk. 

Automobile mechanic. 

Lithographer. 

Multigraph operator. 

Radio operator. 

Plasterer.. 

Typewriter repairman. 

Mechanician, qualified as mechanical store and tool 


Navy, Office of Naval Intelligence. 

Bureau of Mines. 

Commerce Department. 

Census Office. 

Forest Service. 

.do.. 

Census Office... 

Treasury Department.. 

Navy, Bureau of Navigation. 

Deoartment of Agriculture. 

Lighthouse Service. 

Post Office Department. 

Federal Board for Vocational 
Education. 

Bureau of Standards. 


SI, 000 
1,020 
1,000 
$900- 1,020 
900 

900- 1,200 
900- 960 

1,000 
1, COO 
720 

960- 1,200 
900 
900 

900- 1,000 


room keener. 

Cotton classer’s helper. 

Transit man. 

Assistant snecial agent, social hygiene. 

Clinical clerk. 

Clerk, qualified as pharmacist. 

Shot firer. 

Mechanical draftsman. 

Radio operator. 

Plumber’s assistant. 

Preparators in the Div.sion of History, Division of 
textiles, and Anthropological Laboratory. 

Oiler. 

Preparator in entomology. 

File clerk. 

Preoarator in nematology. 

Laboratory aid in agricultural technology. 

Cotton ddsser’s helper. 

Laboratory helper. 

Laboratory aid. 

Computer, grade 2. 

Apprentice draftsman. 

Assistant enameled-metalteehnician. 

Lithographic press helper. 

Land law clerk. 

Forest ranger... 

Lithographic stone polisher, stone planer, and stone 
grainer. 

Mimeograph operator. 

F-l addressograph operator. 

Graphotvpe operator. 

Deputy shipping commissioner.. 

Special issistant agent, protective social measures. 

Copperplate map engraver. 

Skilled laborer qualified in pasteboard-box making- 

Operative. 

Telephone clerk.. 

Plumber’s helper. 

Practical optician and glass worker’s helper.. 

Fish culturist. 

Guard.. 

Apprentice fish culturist. 

Guard. 

Calculating machine operator. 

Deck hand. 

Apprentice chart engraver. 

Orchardist. 

Shop apprentice. 

Apprentice plate cleaner, transferrer, picture engraver, 
and letter engraver. 

Laboratory aid, motion-picture laboratory. 

Foundry helper. 

Subclerical. 

Laboratory aid. 


Bureau of Markets. 

Federal service. 

Social Hygiene Board. 

Public Health Service. 

_do. 

Bureau of Mines. 

Patent Office. 

Lighthouse Service. 

Treasury Department. 

National Museum. 

Post Office and Treasury Depart¬ 
ments. 

Bureau of Entomology. 

Departmental. 

Bureau of Plant Industry. 

_do. 

Bureau of Markets. 

Bureau of Mines. 


Bureau of Ordnance. 

Navy, Hydrographic Office. 

Bureau of Standards. 

Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

Land Office. 

Forest Service. 

Geological Survey. 

Departmental. 

_do. 

Bureau of War Risk Insurance_ 

Shipping Commission. 

Social Hygiene Board. 

Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

Bureau of Markets... 

Departmental. 

District of Columbia police de¬ 
partment. 

Interior Department. 

Bureau of Standards. 

Bureau of Fisheries. 

Departmental and penitentiary 
sendee. 

Bureau of Fisheries. 

State, War, and Navy Buildings.. 

Departmental. 

District of Columbia police de¬ 
partment. 

Geodetic Survey. 

Agriculture Department. 

Bureau of Standards. 

Bureau of Engraving and Printing. 

Publications Division. 

Bureau of Standards.. 

Departmental. 

Office of Public Roads. 


900- 1,440 
900- 1,200 
600- 1,000 
900- 1,200 
900- 1, 500 
840 
1,000 
960- 1,200 
780 

900- 1,020 
840- 900 

720 

900- 1,200 
660- 1,000 
840 

900- 1,440 
900- 1,080 
720- 900 

' 900- 1,400 
700 

1,000- 1,500 
700 
1,020 

900- 1,220 
900 

660- 1,200 
900- 1,200 
660- 1,200 
960 

900- 1,5$0 
1,000 
720- 1,200 
900- 1, 000 
900 

840 

720- 1,200 
900 

720- 840 

600- 960 

720 

900- 1, 200 
600 

600- 1,000 
840 
720 
600 

900 

720- 1,080 
600- 720 

1,000 


The Chairman. Miss Smith, you spoke of opposition. How much 
opposition has there been to the bill ? 

Miss Smith. Numerically I think very little. If I recall the figures 
in the House the last time it seems to me it was about 312 to 40 , or 
































































































































MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 11 

something like that. It passed by a great majority in the House. 
In the Senate there was never a vote. But we had indications from 
Senators which gave us reason to believe that had the vote been 
obtained there would have been very small opposition numerically. 
There was a very determined opposition on the part of about 15 
Senators who filibustered against the bill for many weeks at the close 
of both sessions, both the last short session and the previous session. 
It was very bitter opposition on the part of those few opponents, 
but so far as we were able to count them, I do not think that they 
reached a number of more than 15 or 20 in the Senate. By the vote 
In the House on two occasions, the majority was overwhelming. 

The Chairman. Do you know of any opposition outside ? 

Miss Smith. Outside of the Houses in Congress ? 

The Chairman. The House and the Senate, I mean from the 
■country, any considerable opposition ? 

Miss Smith. I never heard of any, Mr. Chairman. It is one of 
the interesting facts that I have had brought to my attention quite 
frequently, that private employers have urged and repeatedly urged 
the enactment of this bill. We have had evidence of that from all 
over the country, indorsements from many sections of the country 
from organized private employers who favor this minimum for Gov¬ 
ernment workers. 

Mr. Mills. Have you discussed at all the question of rate of com¬ 
pensation ? 

Miss Smith. I spoke of the application of the part time rate. 

Mr. Mills. No; as to the actual rates of the minimum pay, $3 a 
day, for instance, there is 37J cents an hour. That is the same rate 
as the last bill ? 

The Chairman. The same rate. 

Miss Smith. I am not sure that I understand your question. 

Mr. Mills. This is what I have in mind. I am thoroughly in 
favor of the principle of the minimum wage, but my recollection of 
that is in most of the States where they have a minimum wage the 
rates are not fixed by law, but are fixed by commissions, which permit 
more or less of a sliding scale. Am I right there, Mr. Chairman ? 

The Chairman. That is in relation to women and children. 

Mr. Mills. Yes; but most of the minimum wage laws apply to 
women and children. 

The Chairman. In the case of public employees, a minimum is 
fixed, and it is not fixed by commissions, but by the legislature. 
The minimum wage commission fixes wages for women and children 
under various State laws for private industries. Minimum wage 
laws for public employees of States or municipalities are fixed by the 
State and there is no discrimination as between employees. A 
fixed minimum wage is provided, fixing the minimum wages of dif¬ 
ferent groups, and they accomplish what we are trying to do in this 
bill, that is establish a minimum wage and then pay from that 
on up. 

Mr. Mills. Irrespective of the change in the cost of living? 

The Chairman. I will say that this is fixing it or trying to fix it, 
and of course if the cost goes up at some future time and there would 
be a decided change it would undoubtedly go up. This bill was 
introduced in 1913 before prices began to soar. 


12 MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOB FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 

Due to the fact that we have since that time each year taken up 
the question of bonus, the idea would be that they ought to be 
treated rightly in the matter of bonus above the wage. 

Mr. Zihlman. To meet unusual conditions. 

The Chairman. Yes. This minimum was predicated on the old 
conditions that existed prior- 

Mr. Mills. Prior to the war. 

The Chairman. Prior to the war, and as the bill reads it would 
entitle these employees to any bonus that might be given by the 
Government in addition. 

Mr. Mills. Let me ask you whether you know of any opposition 
from department heads ? 

Miss Smith. I have not heard any, except what the chairman 
himself read this morning as applying to the Territories. That is 
expressed in a letter which he read. I had not heard of that until 
this morning. That is on one point only, as relating to certain 
agricultural employees in the Territory of Hawaii and some of our 
island possessions. That is the only opposition I have heard of from 
the department heads. 

The Chairman. On the contrary, there has been a very' decided 
interest in this minimum wage bill by large numbers of the heads of 
executive departments and the chiefs of bureaus. They say that 
there is more need of legislation in the interest of the lower-paid 
employees than the others. 

Mr. Upshaw. Do you know whether it is possible to get the approxi¬ 
mate number of employees in these lower wages which the Civil 
Service Commission has not been able to fill ? I think that would be 
extremely interesting. 

Miss Smith. I do not know how complete a statement could be 
obtained. I happen to know in one or two instances, for example, 
in the Bureau of Fisheries, which has quite a large field force, much 
larger than its Washington force. I was told by the commissioner 
two or three months ago that 62 per cent of his statutory positions 
were vacant. I happen to know about that particular bureau. I 
have heard similar statements for many others. I heard also con¬ 
cerning the Forest Service from members of the Forest Service, and 
of the American Forestry Association, I think it was, that within a 
certain period of months 700 men had resigned, and that was at the 
rate of two a day, if I remember correctly. 

Mr. Upshaw. So the fact is brought out clearly that the Govern¬ 
ment activities are actually suffering because of the poor wages 
paid ? 

Miss Smith. Unquestionably so, Mr. Upshaw. The Civil Service 
Commission in its last report puts the turnover in the Government 
service at something like forty-odd per cent. It is not less than 
40,1 know. And there have been estimates of the cost to the Govern¬ 
ment of that high turnover, and they run, those estimates run, into 
the millions of dollars, because it costs a great deal to replace the 
employees. There is the cost of examination, the cost of training 
after the new appointee is installed, the loss of time, and all those 
things. It is an expensive thing, what the Government is doing in 
paying small wages. 

Mr. Upshaw. It is an expense which cuts both ways ? 



MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 13 

Miss Smith. Yes; an expense to the Government and a great 
hardship and injustice to people who are struggling to live on such 
wages. 

Mr. Upshaw. I think that is a very strong point. 

The Chairman. Miss Smith, can you give us approximately an 
idea of how long it is since the Government revised wages for the 
particular employees that would be benefited by the terms of this bill ? 

Miss Smith. For the particular employees? I should say that 
they have never been revised, Mr. Nolan. I think that the wage 
scale now in effect, with the exception of certain positions under 
the lump-sum appropriations that were created during the war, 
there has been no revision in the wage scale for Government em¬ 
ployees since about 1856. 

The Chairman. The statement was made before this committee 
repeatedly, and it has never been contradicted, that there has been 
no revision since 1854, and that there are large groups of employees 
receiving the same compensation now as men and women in similar 
employment received in 1854. 

Mr. Upshaw. Do you mean that there has been no effort on the 
part of the Government to adjust the wages of its employees to the 
varying conditions, the rising scale in the cost of living, since 1856 ? 

The Chairman. Since 1854. The great bulk of employees that 
would benefit under this bill, those carried under civil service and 
before the civil service went into effect, receive the same rate to-day, 
plus the bonus, and the only increase they have got is the matter 
of the bonus since 1854. 

Mr. Upshaw. That is an outrage. 

Mr. Beck. May I ask how the $1,080 a year was arrived at? 

The Chairman. That is the way the Government fixes its salaries, 
the annual basis. Where they are on an annual basis of $900 and 
$1,000, they automatically increase that to $1,080. There is a day 
wage, there is a monthly wage, and there is an annual wage. 

Mr. Beck. I understand that, but I heard it called a little while 
ago a living wage, and I wondered just how $1,080 a year was arrived 
at as a living wage. 

Miss Smith. I think that that was the approximation in 1913, 
according to the then cost of living. 

Mr. Beck. That is just what I was getting at. That would 
be about $540 now. Then, why not make that $1,080, $2,160 ? 

Miss Smith. Well, that would be, I may say, exactly the figure, or 
almost exactly the figure, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
fixed as the proper wage at present—$2,100 or $2,200, something 
like that. In 1919, at the request of the Congressional Joint Com¬ 
mission on Reclassification of Salaries, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
under the direction of Dr. Meeker, made a study of the cost of living 
in the District of Columbia for a family of five, and found it to be 
$2,262. 

Mr. Beck. Then; if the cost of living should drop to about half 
what it is now, then what ? 

Miss Smith. If such a thing should happen, it would then be up to 
Congress to consider this matter. Congress appropriates every year 
for the payment of the Government employees. 

Mr. Beck. Since 1854 ? 


14 MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 

Miss Smith. It has appropriated every year. It has not revised 
the wage scale. 

Mr. Beck. The point I was trying to make, Mr. Chairman, is: I 
was wondering if those that are in favor of this bill have ever thought 
out any plan or scheme where those things would take care of them¬ 
selves/ I can see that this bill of four or five years ago, when it was 
introduced would do justice to the Federal employees, but I can not 
see that it does now. There may be no other way of handling it. I 
do not know. Have had considerable to do with drawing minimum 
wage hills and administering laws, but even those do not take care 
of the situation, because you can not get commissions to fix them 
every year or when there are changed conditions. 

The "Chairman. I think there is only one answer to that: First, 
that the employees have had such a terrible struggle against such 
great odds, and have received no consideration at all, that even this 
wage fixed would be a godsend to so many of those of them that they 
hesitate to ask the proponents of this measure, those in favor of it, 
to increase the rates. They have had so little success in getting the 
$3 - 

Mr. Beck. They will continue to have little success. 

The Chairman (continuing). That they are afraid to ask for any¬ 
thing higher. But when the rates are once established, and things 
continue as they are, I am satisfied that they will come to you, and 
they will be justified in coming to you, and ask you to increase these 
rates. 

Mr. Upshaw. Do you not believe, Mr. Beck, that this bill would 
be really a little stronger before the House if the rate were increased 
before it is reported ? 

Mr. Beck. Yes. 

Mr. Upshaw. That is my honest conviction. 

The Chairman. Before the House we fought to keep in the bill 
those rates, and in addition to that, we fought a successful fight to 
permit these employees to enjoy the bonus. Only after a record vote 
in the House were we able to give these employees who are benefited 
by this bill the benefits of the bonus. The Senate bill, as reported, 
deprived them of the bonus, and just kept them to the bare minimum. 
So, with the tendency nowadays to slash, I think the employees, as a 
starter, would feel fairly well satisfied, at least for this time, if we 
could give them this legislation and give them more at the earliest 
possible moment. 

Mr. Beck. I think that is true, but I think somebody ought to 
devise some system whereby they would not have to struggle along 
for over half a century to get a decent wage. 

Miss Smith. May I say on that point, for the National Women’s 
Trade Union League, and in fact, as I understand it, the National 
Federation of Federal Employees takes this position. We would all 
be very glad indeed to have some kind of a wage commission which 
could adjust this matter, and I believe that were it considered at all 
a feasible thing to obtain from Congress, if we felt that Congress 
would be willing to surrender its own direct authority over this 
particular thing, that we would be asking you for a bill which would 
establish a wage commission to adjust the rates as might be deemed 
necessary. 



MINIMUM WAGE BILL EOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 15 

Mr. Beck. When you get through, I suggest that you draw up 
that provision. 

The Chairman. I have only been after this for eight years, and 
when I get this through, I will guarantee you I will try that. 

Mr. Steward. May I say just a word at that point in reference to 
the inquiry of Mr. Beck, that we recognize the establishment of a 
minimum wage as the real foundation of the proper readjustment of 
all compensation paid by the Federal Government to its employees, 
for which reason a general reclassification as to all salaries, duties, 
titles, and methods of dealing with the Government personnel, a 
subject which will be before both Houses of Congress this session, is as 
we look at it the next step toward securing a flexible system, a thing 
which we have never had. It has always been everybody’s business, 
with the result that nothing has been done, except little piecemeal 
bits. 

Mr. Chairman, in o der to show how very meager is he minimum 
wage called for by this bill, I wish to put before the committe3 at this 
point figures as to the cost of living in the District of Columb a as 
ascertained by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. This 
study was originally made in August, 1919, at the prices then current, 
and the total budget of that date, economists tell us, taking into 
account the rise and fall of prices since then, is practically the cost of 
living at the present time. 

It is therefore pertinent to cite that budget here, calling attention 
to the fact that it provides for a typical family of five, consisting of 
man, wife, and three minor children, at a standard of living which is 
defined by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics as follows: 

(1) A sufficiency of nourishing food for the maintenance of health, particularly the 
children’s health. 

(2) Housing in low-rent neighborhoods and within the smallest possible number of 
rooms consistent with decency, but with sufficient light, heat, and toilet facilities for 
the maintenance of health and decency. 

(3) The upkeep of household equipment, such as kitchen utensils, bedding, linen, 
necessary for health, but with no provision for the purchase of additional furniture. 

(4) Clothing sufficient for warmth, of a sufficiently good quality to be economical, 
but with no further regard for appearance and style than necessary to permit the 
family members to appear in public and within their presumably rather narrow social 
circle without slovenliness or loss of self-respect. 

(5) A surplus over the above expenditures which would permit of only a minimum 
outlay for such necessary demands as— 

(a.y Street car fares to and from work, and necessary rides to stores and markets. 

(b) The keeping up of a modest amount of insurance. 

(c) Medical and dental care. 

(d) Contributions to churches and labor or beneficial organizations. 

(e) Simple amusements, such as the moving-pictures once in a while, occasional 
street car rides for pleasure, some Christmas gifts for the children, etc. 

(/) A daily newspaper. 

A family'with the above described possessions would be able to maintain itself 
in health and simple decency, but would have no more of the comforts and “trim¬ 
mings ” of life than would be necessary for good physical health and fair mental health. 
Thus no provision is made for savings, none for vacations of any kind, and none for 
books or other educational purposes. 

It needs to be emphasized that in adopting such a budget level as the basis of the- 
present study it was not intended in anyway to set up that level as a desirable ideal. 
The frequently used phrase, “the American standard of living” connotes something 
much higher and much more expensive. What was had in mind was simply the 
establishment of a bottom level, below r which a family must not go without physical 
and moral deterioration. 


16 


MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 


The cost of living on this basis for a family of five in Washington, 
D. C., was found by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in August, 1919, 
to be as follows: 


Food. $773.93 

Clothing: 

Husband. $121.16 

Wife. 166.46 

Boy (11 years). 96. 60 

Girl (5 years).. 82. 50 

Boy (2 years). 47.00 

-513.72 

Housing, fuel, and light. 428. 00 

Miscellaneous. 546. 82 


Total budget at market prices. 2, 262. 47 


Changes in cost of living subsequent to August, 1919, carried these 
figures to $2,430 for such a family in December, 1920, and at the 
present time, according to the best available information, has brought 
them back to approximately the same as the 1919 budget. 

At the same time the foregoing family budget was made, the Bureau 
of Labor Statistics made a similar study as to the cost of living for a 
self-supporting woman without dependents. That budget amounted 
to $1,117 a year at prices in August, 1919. Brought down to date, 
according to the same calculations as applied to the family budget 
above cited, the individual woman’s budget would still be around 
$1,100 a year in the District of Columbia. 

As further testimony on this subject, Mr. Chairman, let me bring 
to the committee’s attention the cost of living exhibits submitted 

to the Railroad Labor Board at its hearings in Chicago last week, 

by W. Jett Lauck, consulting economist for the railroad men. Mr. 

Lauck furnishes a comparison of budgetary studies from different 
sources and different parts of the country, brought down to date 
of April, 1921. 

In the preface to his table he states (italics mine): 

The accompanying table shows the cost of each of the important budgetary studies 
at the time it was made and its cost in December, 1920, as computed by applying the 
increase in the cost of living reported by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics 
to have taken place since the date of the original study in the locality where it was 
made. 

The last column of the accompanying table shows the cost of the studies brought 
down to April, 1921, by assuming that the cost of living has declined 7 per cent between 
December, 1920, and April, 1921, this being the largest estimate of decrease made by any 
student of the subject. This assumption, however, is a highly liberal estimate of the 
probable decline, as there is reason to believe that the actual decline between Decem¬ 
ber, 1920, and April, 1921, was much less. (See exhibit on recent changes in prices 
and cost of living.) 












minimum wage bill for federal EMPLOYEES. 17 


1 early cost of various family budgets at time studies were made and cost in December , 1920 

and April. 1921. 

[All of these budgets are based on a family of husband, wife, and 3 children of dependent age.] 



Original study. 

Per cent 


Cost, 

April, 

1921, 

assuming 
decrease 
from De¬ 
cember, 
1920. 

Budget. 

Date. 

Amount. 

increase 
to De¬ 
cember, 
1920. 

Cost, De¬ 
cember, 
1920. 

SUBSISTENCE LEVEL. 

Wage earners budgets in New York City, 

1906. 

$851. 38 

120.9 

$1, 880. 70 

$1,749.05 

Louise B. More. 

Standard of living in New York City. R. C. 
Chapin. 

Family budgets in Chicago Stockvards dis- 

1907. 

900. 00 

120.9 

1,98S. 10 

1, 848.93 

1914. 

733.62 

93.3 

1,418.08 

1,318.81 

trict, J. C. Ken ledy. 

Cost and standards of living in New York 

1914. 

876. 43 

101.4 

1, 765.13 

1,641. 57 

State, New York Factory Investigating 
Commission. 

Cost of living of unskilled laborer’s family, 

February, 1917.... 

980. 42 

68.1 

1, 648. 09 

1, 532. 72 

New York City, New York Bureau of 
Personal Service. 

Suggested family budget, social service bu- 

.do. 

1,017.81 

68.1 

1, 710. 94 

1,591.17 

rjau, Bellevue H jspital. 

Subsistence budget submitted to National 

June, 1918. 

1, 386. 00 

26.5 

1, 753. 29 

1, 630. 56 

War Labor Board, W. F. Ogburn. 
Suggested budget for a textile mill worker’s 

March, 1919. 

1,723.00 

14.7 

1, 976. 28 

1, 837.94 

family, Little and Cotton. 

Cost of living among wage earners in Fall 
River, Mass., National Industrial Con¬ 
ference Board. 1 

Cost of living among wage earners in Law- 

October, 1919. 

November, 1919... 

1, 573. 90 

1,658.04 

6.2 

4.4 

1,671.48 

1, 730. 99 

1, 554.48 

1, 609. 82 

ence, Mass., National Industrial Confer¬ 
ence Board. 

MINIMUM COMFORT LEVEL. 

Minimum budgetary estimate for Pacific 

October, 1917. 

1, 476. 40 

47.8 

2,182.12 

2, 029. 37 

coast workers, Jessica B. Peixotto. 
Budget used in Seattle and Tacoma street 

December, 1917.... 

1, 505. 60 

48.0 

2,228. 29 

2, 072. 51 

railway arbitration award. 

Budget submitted to National War Labor 

June, 1918. 

1, 760. 50 

26.5 

2,227.03 

2,071.14 

Board, W. F. Ogburn. 

Budget for a Government employee’s fam- 

August, 1919. 

2, 262.47 

4.0 

2,352.97 

2,188. 26 

ily in Washington, D. C., U. S. Bureau of 
Labor Statistics. 

Workingman’s standard of living in Phila- 

November, 1919... 

1, 803.14 

3.4 

1, 864. 45 

1, 733.94 

delphia, Bureau of Municipal Research. 
Budget for bituminous-coal mine workers, 

January, 1920. 

2,118.94 

.7 

2,133. 77 

1,984.41 

W. F. Ogburn. 





1 The reports of the board give data for two standards. The figures for the “more liberal standard” are 
used in this table. 


In the exhibit on a Recent changes in prices and cost of living” 
appear the following statements (italics mine): 

Recent Changes in Prices and Cost of Living. 

WHOLESALE PRICES NOT A GUIDE TO C03T OF LIVING. 

PeTiaus the most frequent error in discussions of cost of living is the confusion of a 
decline in wholesale prices with a decline in the cost of living. All experience goes 
to show that, while cost of living usually follows the movement of wholesale prices, 
it follows at such a distance as to offer no practical assistance in such a highly practical 
matter as the relationship of wages to living cost. The most striking example of this 
fact emerges from the experience of the past few months. Between June and Decem¬ 
ber, 1920, wholesale prices (according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics) 
declined no less than 30 per cent. During the same period the cost of living (according 
to the same authority) declined barely 7 per cent. In other words, during this period 
there was a very great decrease in wholesale prices but a relatively unimportant 
decrease in the cost of living. 

48005—21-2 



































18 


MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 


There are two reasons for this result, both of common knowledge, but of such im¬ 
portance as to need constant reiteration. The first is that retail prices are controlled 
by many factors other than those controlling wholesale prices; thus, while retail prices 
usually move in the same direction as whole-ale prices the movement tends to be very 
much less pronounced. The second reason is that a large part of the family budget goes 
for items such as house rent, car fare, and sickness, not covered by the usual commodity 
price reports * * *. 

Since December, 1920, the only important decline in the things pure hased by the 
average family has been in the retail prices of food. According to the United States 
Bureau of I abor Statistics average retail food prices in February, 1920, were 11 per 
cent lower than in December, 1919. Assuming that prices continued to fall through 
March at the same rate, the total decline from December, 1920, to April, 1921, would 
be approximately 16.5 per cent. As food consumes 38 per cent of the average family 
expenditure, such a decline in food price?, if all other items in the budget remained 
unchanged, would represent a total decline of barely 6 per cent in the total cost of 
living. In practice thF is substantiallv what has happened. 

Retail clothinq prices for articles of the same quality have probably declined little, 
if at all, since December. [Spring clothing normally costs less than winter clothing.] 
Coal has declined slightly, but gas and electric rates are reported to have increased 
in many communities. House rents, according to the best information have tended 
upwards in the larger cities at least. Thus balancing all of these factors, it appears 
that the maximum decrease in the cost of living which could possibly have occurred 
since last December may be roughly measured by the decrease in food costs. This 
as pointed out above would mean a decrease in the cost of living approximately 6 per 
cent. 

SEASONAL FLUCTUATIONS IN PRICES. 

No real significance, however, can be attached to a decrease in food prices—or indeed 
of prices of most commodities—at this time of the year. Price declines between 
winter and spring are regularly recurring phenomena. * * * in the case of food 
prices this is particularly striking. Thus, in every year between 1911 and 1915 food 
prices declined from their high peak in November—January to a lower level in Feb¬ 
ruary—April by a percentage varying from 7.6 to 3. 

Moreover, and this is a point of much significance, the recent wholesale price index 
numbers of food products show a marked slowing up, and*in several cases, a complete 
stopping of the downward price curve. * * * 

Briefly summarizing, therefore, it appears that since last December the maximum 
decline in the general cost of living has probably not exceeded 6 per cent; and such 
decline was due primarily to a decline in food prices; that food prices normally decline 
during these months; that, therefore, the real permanent decrease in cost of living 
since last December has at best been so small as to be negligible. Moreover, it is by 
no means impossible that a complete survey made at the present time would show a 
higher level of living costs than existed last December, for while there can be no 
question as to a real decline (possibly entirely) in the prices of food, there is grave 
question whether this has not been more than met by rent increases, for rents, as is 
generally known, have shown a remarkable upward tendency in recent months. 
During the war rents were, on the whole slow to rise. Up to December. 1919, ac 
cording to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics rents had risen on the average 
only 25.3 per cent since 1913. In the next six months the percentage increase grew 
to 34.9 and in the last six months of the year to 51.1 per cent. Thus, the rate of in¬ 
crease during recent months advanced progressively. If the increase has continued 
since last December at the rate developed in the preceding six months the advanced 
cost of housing would go far to compensate for practically all of the decreases in other 
articles. 

That rent advances since the first of the year have been extraordinarily high in 
very many places is indicated by the “rent wars” frequently reported in the news¬ 
papers at the present time. To cite the one city of Chicago,*data obtained from the 
Tenants Protective League and presented in connection with the recent printing 
trades arbitration case shows rent increases averaging 54 per cent between 1920 and 
1921. Similar data from the Chicago Real Estate Board, also presented in connection 
with the above mentioned arbitration case, show increases in the neighborhood of 
45 per cent between May 1, 1920, and May 1 1921. As rent constitutes about 13 per 
cent of the average family expenditure, an increase of 45 per cent or more in rents 
since December last would more than balance the decline in food prices and mean that 
the cost of living was now at the same level or higher than it was in December, 1920. 

The Chairman. Have you other witnesses ? 

Mr. Steward. Mr. Oliver. 


MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 


19 


STATEMENT OF MR. ARTHUR C. OLIVER. 

Mr. Oliver. I am in the District service of the Government, which 
does not come under the civil service. 

I am here, as I understand it, to introduce two or three of the wit¬ 
nesses from the District government service. 

I just want to say that Mr. Steward and Miss Smith have covered 
the subject of the bill so far as the employees are concerned, and 
what we hope to get by this bill—that is, to lower paid employees— 
so that it would be useless to attempt to say much more on the 
subject. 

I would like to bring before you gentlemen, however, just one fact, 
and that is that in previous Congresses every time the question of 
salary adjustment for those of the Government service has come up 
there have been Congressmen who have come out on the floor of the 
House and made the sweeping assertion during the course of their 
speech—and I presume their unusually fine personalities have domi¬ 
nated the rest of the Congressmen to such an extent that there has 
not been enough contradiction to this statement, which I have heard 
time and time again—that is, the Congressman who is opposed to any 
increase in the basic salaries has repeatedly made the statement— 
and I have seen it numbers of times, and you gentlemen probably 
have also—that the employees, well, we will say, who get $900 01 
$600 or even lower, which go, in the Government service, at the 
basic salaries, as low as $120, as in the hospital service. They have 
repeatedly made this statement that these men are really not men; 
they are boys, and it is a boy’s position. A $900 position, in the 
eyes and minds of a good many Congressmen, of those people, all 
those people who are getting less than $1,000 basic salary, appar¬ 
ently must be boys. 

Well, according to the w T ay they have to live, they really are living 
on what a boy or girl who has just left school, just starting out in 
life, receives. But I have with me from the District service three 
gentlemen who have been in the service, two of them for a good many 
years. One of them is a $900 man, who is in my own office. He has 
direct dealings with the public and answers all questions on water 
rates—I am in the water department—and he has to have at his 
finger ends the experience to answer intelligently all these different 
questions that arise, and has to know the figures and give them to 
the public as they come to the counter. This man has been in this 
one department for 10 years. He is getting less money to-day than 
he was when he started, because he has been transferred from the 
per diem roll to the statutory roll. 

The other two gentlemen get $600 a year. One is a messenger, 
who has been in the service for 13 years and is the father of 13 chil¬ 
dren, 9 of them living. It is true that this gentleman has a little 
outside income. I do not know what that happens to be. 

The other gentleman has been married three years. He gets $600. 
He has to work both day and night to make ends meet. You will 
hear some figures to show the absolute impossibility of what the 
average man or woman is up against in Washington, from the rent 
standpoint, if nothing more—rent and coal. These people that you 
will probably hear—I do not want to take up your time—I simply 
want you to know that these are real people, that these are real 


20 MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 

people that are testifying about what they have got. It is not 
theory. It is just what the Government is paying them, and I am 
calling them in the hope that it will wake Congress and the public 
up to the fact that it does not pay a decent rate and is not justice 
to give any wage that is not a living wage, where it is necessary to 
hold down two jobs in order to make even a bare living. 

Mr. Zihlman. Have you any figures as to the number of em¬ 
ployees in the District ? 

Mr. Oliver. No, sir. 

Mr. Zihlman. Or as to the wage ? 

Mr. Oliver. I can only tell you as to the conditions in my own 
office. I am not the head of the office. I am a per diem man. I 
am in the water department of the District service. In our office I 
should say approximately 40 men, and of those 19 1 know are on the 
statutory roll at a salary of $900 a year. There are about six posi¬ 
tions which pay $1,000 basic salary a year, and you must remember, 
gentlemen, that these positions boys could not fill, young girls could 
not fill. It happens that we have an office where there are no ladies 
at all. The positions are filled by men, and all call for experience 
and knowledge of—well, general bookkeeping and clerical work, and 
yet I say the bulk of the positions are paid less than $1,000 basic 
salary. 

Of course we might bring more up here, but most of the men are 
married that are in this particular department, and I know myself 
that in the majority of cases in our office most of the men there, 
their wives work, or they work nights in order to make ends meet, 
and I do not think any Government, it does not matter whether it 
is the United States or any other Government, should allow such a 
thing. 

Mr. Beck. I presume most of the. employees in the District service 
are inhabitants of the District ? 

Mr. Oliver. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Beck. Now, private employers, if it applies to private em¬ 
ployers as it would in this case, you would say in reference to the 
minimum wage that whatever they are paying in wages to the 
members of the immediate family just helps the family that much 
to live and relieve the burden of the head of the family. What 
could you say as to that ? 

Mr. Oliver. I say this, that I do not think there are married men 
who like a home—I am not married myself, but I hope to be if I 
can get a little raise- 

Mr. Upshaw. I move we raise him. 

The Chairman. If you have everything else beside the raise, you 
are all right. 

Mr. Oliver. I have the girl to start with, anyway. I would 
answer the gentleman's question in this way: I think that the theory 
of American life is that the man should be the earning one of the 
family; that there are no family conditions here; that a man should 
be the earning party, and anyway that the wife should keep house. 
I am not married and I do not want to get into an argument. 

Mr. Beck. I mean the private employer would say if the man has 
nine children, he would come back and say they can help a little. 

Mr. Oliver. They can when they grow up. 

Mr. Beck. They do not take so much when small. 



minimum wage bill fcr federal employees. 


21 


Mr. Oliver. Yes. He could starve or force his children to work. 
We do not want beggars around Washington. The point I make is 
that the United States should not have in its service men or women 
who are over 21 years of age who should be paid less than a living 
wage, enough to take care of a small family. 

Mr. Beck. Should not even if they are under that. 

Mr. Oliver. I am only taking something, as Mr. Nolan says, as a 
start. Of course we are fighting for something that, as I understand 
it, has got a chance to pass. We want to bring out the fact of this 
thing that will help. We do not ask for luxuries. 

Mr. Collins. Are any of these people that are asking for this 
increase qualified electors; can they vote? 

Mr. Oliver. Yes, sir; a lot of them live in Maryland, if you can 
call it living. 

Mr. Collins. Did you ever try to back your demands at the 
ballot box ? 

Mr. Oliver. Personally, I was born and raised in New York, and 
always voted in New York until I came to Washington and tried to 
get into the war. I have no vote now. 

Mr. Collins. In other words, do you not think you can help 
yourselves considerably by sending to Congress and the Senate 
people who are friendly to you ? 

Mr. Oliver. Yes; but I would answer that question this w T ay, 
that among the men in the District government service it is hard 
to get representatives who can devote the time to stirring up en¬ 
thusiasm over something that has been for years impossible. As it 
has been stated, there has been no salaries changed since 1854. 

Mr. Collins. I am trying to get you to help yourselves. 

Mr. Oliver. I would like to, but I have to work. I am on a per 
diem basis. 

Mr. Collins. I understand, but you can certainly take enough 
interest in your Government to become a voter. 

Mr. Oliver. You can not in Washington. 

Mr. Collins. You can vote in New York. 

Mr. Upshaw. I suggest to the gentleman from Mississippi that 
most of these people in the District have not any Congressman unless 
we be their Congressmen. 

Mr. Collins. A lot of them I understand live in Maryland, or 
elsewhere ? 

Mr. Oliver. I did not say a lot. I presume some live in Maryland 
and some in Virginia. 

Mr. Collins. In other words, what I am trying to say is this: As 
a rule, the people that you are representing are taking no interest 
or paying no attention whatever in politics; paying no attention 
whateVer to the people that are friendly to them, only when election 
time comes around, and the result is that they have few friends in 
Washington and elsewhere. 

Mr. Oliver. Well, undoubtedly that is so, but as I say, among 
the class of employees that I come in contact with, most of them 
are men who are absolutely half worried to death to make both ends 
meet, and they are glad enough when they get through their two 
jobs to get enough sleep without trying to do something with a 
hard-shelled bunch of Congressmen. That has been tried before. 


22 


MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 


Mr. Collins. I think you should consider what I suggest. 

Mr. Oliver. It is a good point. 

Mr. Steward. I want to say in this connection that the employees 
of the Federal Government have been realizing for a number of 
years that they have a representative Government and that they 
are not represented in it, and the only way they could be represented 
in it was to do something for themselves. Congress, in the act of 
August 24, 1912, authorized their organization and their petitioning 
Congress, individually and collectively, a right which had been 
hitherto denied them. Since that time they collectively, through 
their organization, have exercised in so far as the law relative to 
political activity will permit, their right as citizens to acquaint 
their Members of Congress with legislation in which they were 
vitally interested. And there are many, many Members of Congress 
and of the Senate at the present time, in fact all of them, have had 
an opportunity to hear from their constituents who are not only 
Federal employees but also citizens and voters, as to their views on 
pending legislation of such vital interest to the whole group. 

The Chairman. In other words, Mr. Collins, the law limits the 
right of civil-service employees in reference to political activity. I 
may say that they go further, the civil service goes further than I 
think the law permits them to go. They even restrict them as to the 
right to discuss and take part in political questions. It does not 
make any difference what the particular political question is, they 
have made a broad ruling on that that I do not agree with, and I have 
had quite a bit of controversy -with them over it. For instance, the 
question of municipal ownership of a lighting plant, a street car line, 
prohibition, or any other public question that might come before 
them, they contend that that is partisan political activity. 

Mr. Upshaw. Even to discuss the economical side of a question ? 

The Chairman. Even to discuss it. A ruling has been put into 
effect within the last eight or nine months that a man’s mother, 
father, sister, or brother who happened to be in the Federal service, 
his relatives could not take part in politics. 

Mr. Collins. I understand that. 

The Chairman. Now let us get along if we can. Have you any 
other witnesses, Mr. Oliver ? 

Mr. Oliver. I would like to call on Mr. Beatty, the gentleman I 
spoke of as having been in the service 10 years and getting less money 
than when he started. He is from the water department. 

STATEMENT OF MR. CHARLES BEATTY. 

Mr. Beatty. I do not know as there is anything that I can say 
outside of what Mr. Oliver has said to you in regard to the conditions 
of the District government. As he said, I have been employed for 
10 years, and I am getting less money than when I started. I had 
to take a reduction in salary to get transferred from one roll to the 
other. 

Mr. Upshaw. And yet there has been no complaint against your 
efficiency? 

Mr. Beatty. Not that I know of. 

Mr. Upshaw. The fact that you are holding on to your job shows 
that you have been efficient. 


MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 23 

Mr. Beatty. I think so. 

Mr. Oliver. I would like to say that he is considered one of the 
most efficient countermen. 

Mr. Upshaw. That is what I was trying to bring out. That makes 
the case all the stronger. 

Mr. Beatty. I do not know anything else that I can say. Mr 
Oliver gives a good outline of the situation there. 

The Chairman. What is your salary ? 

Mr. Beatty. $900. 

The Chairman. Are you married ? 

Mr. Beatty. No, sir. I have three dependents, however, two 
sisters and a nephew. 

MA UpshaV. He is old enough to be married. 

The Chairman. Can you give us some idea of how you get along 
on this salary of $900 ? 

Mr. Beatty. Because we own our home, and I am employed a 
good deal at night. I have worked as much as six or eight weeks 
at a time until 12 o’clock each night, in a lunch room. 

The Chairman. Tell us about that. Your home is the family 
home ? 

Mr. Beatty. Just two sisters and myself and a nephew. One of 
the sisters is practically an invalid. She could not do anything if 
she wanted to. 

The Chairman. And you say you do some work at night. 

Mr. Beatty. I worked for six or eight weeks until 12 to 1 o’clock 
each night. 

The Chairman. What time do you go to work in the evening? 

Mr. Beatty. Six or seven in the evening. I work all day at the 
District Building. 

The Chairman. You work all day in the District Building and then 
go to work in the lunch room at night ? 

Mr. Beatty. It is only at times that I work every night. I have 
only been there lately two nights each week. Previous to that I have 
been there two months seven nights in a week. I am the only one 
that brings anything in the house. There is no one else there to 
bring it. 

The Chairman. If you had to pay rent how would you get along? 

Mr. Beatty. I would be out in a tent, sir. 

Mr. Atkeson. What time do you go to work in the morning? 

Mr. Beatty. Nine o’clock in the District Building, and quit there 
at 4.30, and then I go home and hang around until about 6 or 6.30 
and go up to the lunch room. 

Mr. Oliver. I would like to say in the case of Mr. Beatty that, of 
course, he is not a married man, but I understand that he has de¬ 
pendents the same as a married man would. 

Mr. Morris is a $600 a year messenger. 

STATEMENT OF MR. EDWARD M. MORRIS, DISTRICT BOARD 
OF CHARITIES. 

Mr. Morris. I do not know what I can say, gentlemen, but I am 
willing to answer any questions that you may put to me. 

The Chairman. You are married, Mr. Morris ? 

Mr. Morris. Yes. 


24 


MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 


The Chairman. How many children ? 

Mr. Morris. I have nine living children. There is one of them 
that helps along—only one. But, of course, the others are out of 
the way. I have nothing to do with them. They are married and 
out of the way. I have one boy that helps out some, and one de¬ 
pendent child. 

Mr. Upshaw. How on earth do you and your children live on such 
a salary ? 

Mr. Morris. Just exist, that is all. We have to manage it some 
way. I have been with the District government now for 13 years. 
I got $50 when I started in, in 1900, and you must figure 13 years ago 
I had more children to look after than now. Rent is $25.75 a month 
for a house that I have to do some repairing myself to keep it in con¬ 
dition to live in. I am after the landlord to do something now, on 
which I promised to meet him half way, so far as my labor is con¬ 
cerned. But financially I could not meet him any part of the way. 
Everything has been pretty high within the last 13 years. During 
the war it was a pretty good struggle. I had to buy coal by half a 
ton at a time, such necessary things of life went up, you understand, 
sugar and coffee and other necessaries. 

The Chairman. Have you any outside help besides that one child ? 

Mr. Morris. No, sir. He is in the Library over here, and gets $50 
a month. He is about 17 years of age, going on 18. I have one child 
who is absolutely dependent. Of course, that is all I have,, and my 
wife. 

The Chairman. Do you do any work outside ? 

Mr. Morris. Occasionally I get a little odd job, sometimes helping 
my boy out. He is an electrician. The gentleman here has seen me 
up at the church at New York Avenue helping my boy out once in a 
while up there. 

The Chairman. Have you had to get any assistance from any¬ 
body ? 

Mr. Morris. Well, only in that way; my son, and little extra jobs. 
I have a very frugal wife that economizes in every way, shape, and 
form that she possibly can to help out in that way, but I consider 
that in my office, my title is a messenger, but I am not a messenger 
in the sense of the word. I am not a messenger; I am a general 
utility man. I do a little bit of everything that comes along. I do 


clerical work, filin 
sible position. I 


work, some typewriting work; I have a respon- 
andle a great many thousands of dollars during 
the year. I go to the bank, do the banking. I purchase nearly all 
the railroad tickets for the transportation of paupers, the appropria¬ 
tion that Congress gives, and for various other things which pertain 
to the clerical and important and trustworthy work, and for the past 
13 years I have done all that, handled thousands of dollars, and never 
made a mistake. We have never lost a cent. 

The Chairman. Do the members of the committee desire to ask 
Mr. Morris any further questions. If not, Mr. Oliver, have you any 
more witnesses ? 

Mr. Oliver. Yes; this gentleman, Mr. Bateman. He is a tube 
operator, and he handles the distribution of the mail in the District 
Building to the various tubes that go to the different departments. 
He is paid $600 a year. 


25 


minimum wage bill for federal employees. 

STATEMENT OF MR. WILLIAM W. BATEMAN. 

The Chairman. Mr. Bateman, will you just make whatever 
statement you desire ? 

Mr. Bateman. I would say about what the other gentlemen have 
said. I can answer questions. I would like to say to this gentle¬ 
man here that I do exercise my right at the polls, and I think my 
Congressman and Senator both are in favor of this bill—Senator 
France and Congressman Mudd. 

The Chairman. Are you a married man, Mr. Bateman? 

Mr. Bateman. Yes; I have a wife and three children, one with 
infantile paralysis. 

The Chairman. Do you live in the District or Maryland? 

Mr. Bateman. Just across the border in Maryland, Prince George 
County. 

The Chairman. Do you own your own home? 

Mr. Bateman. Not quite. 

The Chairman. Will you give us some idea as to how you are 
getting along? 

Mr. Bateman. I will tell you. Very fortunately I met a man 
named Carmody and he sold me this ground and put a house on it 
for me, and let me pay him as I can, and I have had a little farming 
around there after I get home, and raise my own vegetables and 
stuff like that. That is how we get along. Of course the wife and 
the children—we do not have any pleasures at all except our home r 
but we love to be with each other. 

The Chairman. How long ago since you started buying your 
home ? 

Mr. Bateman. About 12 years. 

The Chairman. You could do that now? 

Mr. Bateman. No. 

The Chairman. You could not make a start? 

Mr. Bateman. Could not start it. 

The Chairman. And during all of that time you have not paid 
for it yet? 

Mr. Bateman. No, sir. I owe probably $600 or $700 yet. But 
this is a good man I am dealing with, and he does not care how I 
pay him, because he is a friend. 

The Chairman. Do you do any odd jobs or any work outside? 

Mr. Bateman. No; I can not do it, because I have blood pressure, 
and I can not work too hard because I am liable to kill myself. But 
this job that I have got—and I will tell you about it—that I work in 
a place something similar to this. Right by the side there is a line 
of tubes that go up to the different departments. There are some 
thirty-odd of them, and I have to transmit the business from one 
to the other. They all send them to me as a center, you know, and 
I send them from one to the other, and that keeps me almost con¬ 
stantly on my feet. I go there in the morning at half-past 7, and I 
sort out and distribute, probably, well at the present time I have 
two bags of mail everv morning and then I have two more mails 
during the day, and besides attending telephones and doing odd 
little things that are required of me. 

Mr. Upshaw. According to me that ought to be at least a $1,500 

job. 


26 


MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOE FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, 


Mr. Bateman. Yes; it ought. 

The Chairman. Do the members of the committee desire to ask 
Mr. Bateman any other questions? If not, we will hear the next 
witness. 

Mr. Steward. I should like to have Mr. Davis, from the Library of 
Congress, called. 

. STATEMENT OF MR. ROBERT F. DAVIS. 

Mr. Davis. Mr. Chairman, of course this will be information off¬ 
hand. I am a representative of the watchmen of the Library of 
Congress, and the laborers and the charwomen. I think we have 
probably more than 110 men and women all told, and I think, except 
about five of them without the bonus are getting less than $3 a day. 
That is the chief engineer, the chief electrician, the chief of machinists, 
and the carpenters. That is all on the superintendent’s force that are 
not getting less than $3, less the bonus. Of course, that is outside 
the disbursing office. But it is almost impossible for a man to live 
on $3 a day. After a man pays his bread bill, milk bill, gas, electric 
lights and coal, and carfare, he has nothing, and it looks like now 
that it would take up that $1,080 quickly. The papers tell you that 
everything is going down, but you go out and order a pair of shoes 
half soled, and you will pay as much as a pair of shoes cost a few years 
ago. I had to live away from my family for 20 years. I had a wife 
and seven children, and I had to send them to my father-in-law 
because I could not support them. 

We have to have a uniform. One man had a cap made four weeks 
ago and he paid $6.65 for it. I had a friend give me a uniform coat 
and took it over on F Street to have it altered, and it cost me $10. 
I thought it would cost about $3. 

Now, I went to work in the Library 19 years ago. I bought a 
uniform which I had made at Saks’. I paid $18 for it. Now, to 
get the same uniform you would have to pay about $60. We have 
men in the department with big families. One man has eight, and 
one six, a man with his wife and six children, no help at all, and his 
wife broke her ankle the other day and had to have her foot taken off. 
Now, such men as that, how do you expect them to live ? He has to 
pay $25 house rent, and he has a wife and six little children and no 
help at all. I am buying my house and have three children helping 
me. If either one of them was to happen to drop off or get married, 

I would have to sell the house. I could not pay tor it. It would be 
impossible for me to pay for it on the salary that I am getting. 

The Chairman. What is your salary ? 

Mr. Davis. My salary with the bonus is $95. 

The Chairman. Your basic salary is $75 ? 

Mr. Davis. $75. 

The Chairman. And your position is what ? 

Mr. Davis. Watchman. 

Mr. Zihlman. You have to buy your own uniform? 

Mr. Davis. Yes. 

Mr. Zihlman. And it costs $60 ? 

Mr. Davis. Well, I don’t know. The last man to have a uniform 
made had it made on F Street, and it cost him $70. That is about 
a year ago. Now, to get a uniform like that now it would cost at least 


MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 


27 


$60. You know we have to have a uniform, decent clothes. We can 
not work in the finest building in the world looking shoddy. We 
ought to be the best-dressed men in the world as we are employed in 
the best building in the world. 

Take these park police. I think they get $1,640, or something like 
that. I think our work is just as much if not more benefit to the 
Government than that work, because we are watching stuff, old 
manuscripts, and books, and if they were lost—they are out on exhi¬ 
bition, too—they could not be duplicated. Now, our work I think 
is much more important than their work. We are called watchmen 
on the statute books, but we are doing police duty. We have to 
patrol our beat all the time, working eight hours. I used to be in the 
Army, and we used to be on post and we would walk 8 hours out of 24 
and maybe get 10 or 12 nights in some times. Walking up and down 
that hard marble floor for eight hours is pretty hard wort. I would 
rather be on the street. 

The Chairman. Do you get any days off in the month? 

Mr. Davis. I think last year, not counting my leave, I had 14 
Sundays. We had to work Sundays and holidays. We work two 
months longer a year than the Government clerks by working holidays. 
I think I had three half days on Saturdays. There were 15. We 
have to be right on time all the time, and this uniform business is very 
heavy on us. The park police get their uniforms furnished. If one 
of my daughters or my sons should happen to get married and leave 
me, I would have to sell my house, because it would be impossible to 
pay for it, because I can just barely manage to get along now. 

The Chairman. Any further questions to be asked of Mr. Davis ? 
Anything further, Mr. Davis ? 

Mr. Davis. No, I do not know as there is anything further. I 
would like to have about $1,500 a year salary. That is what I would 
like. 

Mr. Steward. The next witness, Mr. Chairman, is Mrs. Sarah 
Henry. 

STATEMENT OF MRS. SARAH HENRY, BUREAU OF ENGRAVING 
AND PRINTING. 

Mrs. Henry. I am employed at the Bureau of Engraving and 
Printing at $2.80 a day. I am a widow with two children. In order 
to make my expenses I have to work at night. I work at the bureau 
until 4.30 and then I go to work at 6 o’clock and work until 10.30. 
There are about 1,400 women in the bureau getting the same money 
that I am getting, and most of them are widows with children or 
dependents, and many, many of them have to hold two positions 
the same as I do. It is utterly impossible for me to get along on the 
wages I make at the bureau. ~ I have been working the two jobs for 
three years. Of course, I have to have somebody to look after my 
girls while I am away at night. 

Mr. Ziiilman. Where do you live ? 

Mrs. Henry. I have been living in Washington until the last three 
months. I was not able to keep my home, and I had to go live with 
my sister-in-law. 

Mr. Zihlman. What rent did you pay when you were here? 

Mrs. Henry. $15.50. 

Mr. Zihlman. How many rooms ? 


28 


MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOE FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 


Mrs. Henry. I had four rooms. I had my coal to buy and to pay 
for my gas and my washing and ironing. Of course, I was not able to 
do anything of that. All of that I had to have done and had to pay 
for it; and paid somebody to take care of my children while I was. 
away from home. 

Mr. Zihlman. Where do you work ? 

Mrs. Henry. At Huylers, Twelfth and F. 

Mr. Zihlman. A candy store ? 

Mrs. Henry. Yes, sir. 

The Chairman. In other words, in trying to make both ends meet, 
you are deprived of the comfort of your children ? 

Mrs. Henry. Yes, sir. I never see my children only on Sundays, 
except when they are sleeping, of course. 

Mr. Zihlman. You now live in Alexandria? What time do you 
go to work at the bureau ? 

Mrs. Henry. At 8.30 and work until 4.30. I do not go home in 
the evening. 

Mr. Zihlman. You get your dinner downtown ? 

Mrs. Henry. Yes, sir. 

Mr. Zihlman. What time do you have to leave Alexandria in order 
to get here at 8.30 ? 

Mrs. Henry. About quarter to 8. 

Mr. Zihlman. What time do you get home ? 

Mrs. Henry. Twenty minutes after 11. 

Mr. Zihlman. Every night ? 

Mrs. Henry. Every night but Sunday. This bill if it would go 
through would not only benefit me, but thousands of others. 

Mr. Zihlman. It would give you 40 cents ihore a day? 

Mrs. Henry. Yes, sir ; even that little would help a whole lot. 

I do not think there is anything else I want to say, unless you 
want to ask me some questions. 

Mr. Steward. Miss Ruth Fisher. 

STATEMENT OF MISS RUTH FISHER, GOVERNMENT PRINTING 

OFFICE. 

Miss Fisher. There is not very much that I can say. I am em¬ 
ployed at the Government Printing Office, and I am one of 10 chil¬ 
dren. There are four children now married and away from home. 

I have one sister who has just started to work. My father works, 
but he does not make very much. He is employed at the Columbia 
Title Co., on E Street. 

My. work is rather hard at the Printing Office and I am sitting 
beside girls making 45 cents an hour, and I make only 35 cents, and 
yet without my help at home, paying board, and if there is anything 
needed I try to get it. My work is rather hard. Sometimes I have 
to sit on a chair and reach to the ground and pick up work, count 
the sheets, and if any work turns out bad, I am held responsible. 

The Chairman. What do you average a month ? 

Miss Fisher. About $85 I think. 

The Chairman. ith the bonus ? 

Miss Fisher. With the bonus. 

The Chairman. If you were by yourself and had no bonus and you 
had to stop down here at this housing project that is run by the 
Government, what would you have to pay out of that $85 ? 



MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 29 

Miss Fisher. I do not know what they pay. I pay $45 a month 
board 

Miss Glynn. $47.50. 

Miss Fisher. I only pay $45. 

The Chairman. I think that is something that the committee 
ought to know, and I think it ought to be a matter that should be 
made plain in the record. The Government, with no overhead in 
the way of taxes, and with as little overhead in the way of upkeep 
as possible- 

Mr. Zihlman. And a deficit each year. 

The Chairman (continuing). Has to charge these girls that are 
working for the Government $47.50 a month for board and lodging— 
is it two in a room ? 

Miss Glynn. Some single and some double. 

The Chairman. Some single and some double, and that calls for 
how many meals a day ? 

Miss Glynn. Two meals a day. 

The Chairman. It will give you some idea of what would happen 
to women who had to work for $600 or $700 a year and pay those 
rates to the Government. 

Mr. Steward. Mr. Chairman, if I may add, one reason they are 
able to keep their rates so low is that many of the employees are 
affected by this small wage. That is one reason why the rate is so 
low. 

Miss Fisher. My father is trying to buy a home, and by my help 
he can. If I should leave at any time, it would go pretty hard at 
home. 

Mr. Steward. Miss Graham, Government Printing Office. 

STATEMENT OF MISS M. M. GRAHAM, GOVERNMENT PRINT¬ 
ING OFFICE. 

Miss Graham. I hold the same position that Miss Fisher does, 
and I get $900 a year without the bonus. I am the only child at 
home that can help at all, and my father has not been feeling well for 
three years. He has some kind of trouble that should be operated 
on for, but he is not able to have it performed yet. I have one little 
brother and my father and mother are trying to buy a home, and 
with my help they are able to do so. If it were not for me I guess 
they would have to give it up. 

We have rather responsible positions. We examine, collate, and 
put up 20,000 to 30,000 sheets a day, and if any of the work goes 
wrong, we are held responsible for it. We do the same work prac¬ 
tically that the girls do who receive at least $20 more a month, and 
we have been overlooked and have not received a raise and we are 
the least paid in the last four years. I have been working there for 
four years now, since I have been out of school. 

The Chairman. Do the members of the committee desire to ask 
the lady any questions. If not that will be all, Miss Graham. 

Mr. Steward. Mr. Chairman, that is all the witnesses that we 
have here this morning. To repeat what I said earlier in the hearing, 
these are merely a few typical instances of many thousands. It is 
possible to supplement these to any extent that may be necessary. 



30 MINIMUM WAGE BILL FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES. 

The Chairman. I think that is pretty well understood, Mr. Steward. 

I will say to the new members of the committee that we have had 
the hearing room so crowded that we had to get the big room on the 
third floor two years ago, and it we sent out word of these hearings 
we would have had the same situation confronting us to-day. In 
1914, when hearings were held on this measure, covering approxi¬ 
mately 420 pages, stories were told that were hard to believe as to 
such conditions existing in a city like Washington, especially among 
Government workers, if they were not actually told, and if they were 
not borne out by the facts. I will say to the members of the com¬ 
mittee that while I have only one set of those hearings, and have 
loaned it to Mr. Collins, a member of the committee, to look over, 
the hearings are available to all the rest of the members of the com¬ 
mittee, and surely conditions have not improved since those hearings 
were held, only to the extent that some of the employees have 
received a pittance of $20 a month added to their salaries. We 
could crowd these hearing rooms for weeks and months with people 
not alone in Washington but all over the country. 

I think we ought to have for the record tables on living and wages 
that were prepared by Prof. Odgen and submitted to the Senate 
committee about two years ago, and those that were prepared by the 
experts of the Department of Labor and submitted, and if you have 
them Miss Smith, or Mr. Steward, I am sure the committee would be 
glad to have them incorporated in the hearing. You probably have 
not them at the present time, but perhaps you can insert them. 

Mr. Steward. We can file them between now and Monday. We 
should want to bring the figures up to the minute. Some of the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics are not up to date, and we want to bring 
them to date, even showing the slight decreases in order to be abso¬ 
lutely fair. We can do that between now and Monday. 

Mr. Upshaw. I want to say, Mr. Chairman, that this is the first 
hearing on this bill that I have attended. I voted for it in the last 
session. These revelations that have been made to-day are simply 
amazing. They will disturb my peace of mind and heart for days 
to come, and I would like to vote now to report the bill out, and 
pass it to-morrow, and make it immediately effective. 

The Chairman. I would say that the statements made to-day are 
mild compared with the statements that can be made here if we 
desire to bring people here to tell their stories. It is a terrible 
thing to have men and women here and tell exactly the conditions 
under which they have been compelled to live. But if you will 
read that book which has been referred to by the newspapers here 
as the u Book of heart throbs,” you will get an idea of the situation. 

Mr. Upshaw. I want to say this, Mr. Chairman, I think if these 
witnesses here or anybody else could make these statements before 
Congress, or if the Congressmen who have been opposed to the bill 
would hear what we have heard this morning, there would not be 
a dissenting vote. 

Miss Smith. If Mr. Upshaw would multiply the cases he has 
heard this morning with something like 50,000 in the United States 
and 18,000 in the District of Columbia, he would have a correct 
picture. 

(Thereupon at 12 o’clock m. the committee adjourned.) 

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 











